Saturday, 12 March 2011

Peter Facinelli interview with The Sheboygan Press

Peter recently did an interview with The Sheboygan Press (ahead of a planned but since cancelled personal appearance at Sherboygan Mall):

When Peter Facinelli signed up for the first “Twilight” film, there were modest expectations surrounding the project.
“The goal was to hopefully get a good enough response to do a second movie. We wanted to make a great movie for the fans of these books. There’s an underground following, and if it did well, maybe we could do a second movie. I don’t think we knew it would become a cultural phenomenon.”
Many moviegoers will forever link Facinelli’s name with the “Twilight” series, but the veteran actor has a long, impressive resume both on the big and small screen. His credits include “The Scorpion King,” “Riding in Cars with Boys” opposite Drew Barrymore, sci-fi hit “Supernova” with James Spader and Angela Bassett, and the movie that put him on the map, “Can’t Hardly Wait,” a coming-of-age teen flick, opposite Jennifer Love Hewitt. His TV credits include a spot on HBO’s award winning “Six Feet Under.”

He also currently stars as Dr. Cooper in a highly regarded Showtime series, “Nurse Jackie,” which stars Edie Falco. The only similarities in his characters in “Nurse Jackie” and the “Twilight” movies, Facinelli says, are his titles.

“It’s just an occupation,” he said. “The characters are 180 degrees from each other, they just happen to share the same job.”

Filming both projects at the same time proved to be a challenge for Facinelli, who lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Jennie Garth of “Beverly Hills 90210” fame, and three daughters. He was faced with many cross-country trips between filming taking place on opposite coasts of the country.

“When we shot Eclipse (the third of the Twilight movies), I was doing both at the same time for a six-week overlap,” Facinelli said. “It was invigorating in one sense, shooting one, then getting on a plane and literally the next day doing something completely different. It’s hard to take it easy filming, because what’s on screen is forever. It was like some fast train ride, keeping the energy up the whole time. I slept a lot on the planes.”

Although the Twilight series is winding down, Facinelli isn’t slowing down. The first of the two-part finale of the “Twilight” series, “Breaking Dawn — Part 1,” is slated for release in November, with part 2 the following year.

Facinelli is currently editing a film, “Loosies,” a story he wrote about a young pickpocket in the New York subways who impregnates a woman he had a one-night affair with, and now he must choose his lifestyle — the one he leads or take responsibility for his actions. He will also star in the film along with Michael Madsen and Vincent Gallo.

“I’m producing more and writing more,” he said. “I’ve been writing a lot, and enjoy taking control of projects.”

As the time playing Dr. Cullen winds down, Facinelli is looking forward, and not concerned with being pigeonholed into similar characters the rest of his career.
“If I looked like that character, I’d be worried,” he said. “I look so different, people say ‘who is that guy with blond hair and pale skin? It would be like Johnny Depp saying he was pigeonholed for ‘Pirates of the Caribbean.’ I have 15 years of work, and other things on my resume.